 He was nicknamed "Hardrock" as a minor league manager because his teams played in a tough, uncompromising way.Born in Madill, Oklahoma, Johnson had a mediocre pitching record.In his only big league season, the war-shortened 1918 campaign, he compiled a 1–5 win–loss mark (.167) and a 3.42 earned run average in ten games and 50 innings pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics.